#Like what is the point in saying ‘lestat must get insecure and cheat when louis won’t put out bc he was sa’ed’

[frigidwife]

A problem also is because the bar for abuse apologism and media comprehension is like below the earths mantle there r people who really confidently think they do address armand’s abuse and hate lestat and armand both and are louisclaudiagirls But the rot is deep and prevalent like hm

[monstersinthecosmos]

thoughts about s1e1

I’ve watched the episode three times hahaha I wanna write down some thoughts to get it out of my head before episode 2 drops tomorrow ashdjglasd (how am I supposed to live like this or 7 weeks haha)

But something I really enjoyed in the episode that I've been thinking about a lot is that Every. Single. Interaction. between Louis and Lestat is so full of coercion lmao. He's fucken relentless.

It’s like a feast to watch. From the moment they meet, Lestat is negging him and emasculating him, and the first time they talk Lestat is already Mind Gifting him. Louis describes it as being “immobilized.” 

But wait, let me say something else before I get into this lol. 

One of the complaints I have about the show currently is that I think it doesn’t really know if it expects the viewer to show up with book/movie knowledge. (Remind me later to mention a few parts where it specifically seems to comment on the movie even though they keep claiming they're separating from it.) Like as much as we’ve all identified this as an AU fanfic, it truly does seem to have some storytelling beats of fanfiction, in that fanfiction utilizes different writing skills when it comes to character development and world building. There are several moments in the episode where it feels like they expect us to just know who Lestat is and accept that Loustat is the ship we’re here for.

And like, it’s tricky with this specific story because the name is on the tin, like there’s no ambiguity or mystery about the fact that Lestat is a vampire and yet they still try to fold in some moments of spookiness to let us know he’s not a regular person. And tbh it doesn’t really add anything to story. Louis isn’t bothered by it and mentions being okay with being told that Lestat will explain it later. It shows us that he's unbothered at times for his sake, but the scene with the lamplighter for example is not Louis's POV and is for the sake of the audience? To? Let us know that Lestat is a vampire? Which kinda blunts the reveal that he's eating the priest at the end? idk I don't really get it.

And in some ways I don’t think they do a great job and showing us WHY these two like each other, they kind of just expect us to buy it. But the two big clues I see that they try to spell out for us is that Lestat sees Louis as a violent man who has a secret inner personality (like he must have heard Louis whispering to Paul in the street before pulling the knife on him) and then the threesome specifically makes a point to begin and end with Nicki’s music box. From canon we know that Louis assumed Lestat was using him for his money which isn't relevant in this version, and Lestat claimed it was love @ first sight bc Louis reminded him of Nicki. Positioning Nicki into their sex scene like this kinda tells me that we’re still going with “saw a stranger who reminded me of my ex that I am grieving a lot” and it tracks with the way he stares directly at Louis as he says “a boy of infinite beauty and sensitivity.”

As far as what Louis sees in Lestat? They set it up immediately to let us know he’s conflicted, wanted to slash his throat, felt humiliated, etc. It’s hard to know exactly what he sees except that he’s found someone he can be himself around and he feels accepted.  Aww lol.

But the gaslighting here is just IMMEDIATE like it opens with a racist comment, only to then have Lestat remind him of it during the poker game. He doesn’t take Louis’s side against those men except to help him cheat. In some ways he’s constantly reminding Louis of his own superiority and goes out of his way to make Louis feel even smaller than he already does.

So like, trying to build any sense of suspense about what Lestat is kind of falls flat to me when Louis isn’t concerned about it, especially coming from a man as insecure as he is, and it makes me wonder how much of it is Mind Gifting. The fact that Lestat fucks with his mind IMMEDIATELY and would know everything Louis is thinking just sets him up as a perfect victim. 

And it kinda brings me to a point I wanna also mention later but, the way they interact here COMPLETELY changes the entire theme of vampirism representing outsiders that we get in VC and that Anne spoke about frequently. Between Lestat & Louis’s interactions in the past and Daniel & Louis’s interactions in the present we are told all the ways that Louis and Daniel feel small, feel insecure, feel shame, and it frames vampirism as a way out of shame and a way to be powerful. It really really changes the dynamic between them; in the book Louis agrees because he’s suffering intense grief and sees it as a means of penance, in the show he’s continuously being teased and negged and needs the power to escape the life he created.

He even describes it to Daniel as seduction. 

Another thing I didn’t love, and this is kind of related to whether or not we’re supposed to show up knowing the story, is the pacing kinda felt all over the place. There’s a few moments they ask you to sit with for a long time (opening scene with Daniel is one) while rushing through the next. Like we spent a lot of time seeing Daniel’s life, going so far as to OPEN THE EPISODE with this e-course ad, only to jump to Dubai and jump into the interview almost immediately. I still don’t understand why they’re doing a second interview LOL. But it feels same with the way they gloss over Louis & Lestat dating. They give us enough for both situations to like, UNDERSTAND, like, I get that Daniel and Louis met 40 years ago and wanna do another interview, and I get that Lestat and Louis spent a lot of time together, but. I want to SEE this. I want to know what Louis & Lestat did and talked about to get to know each other. We see the end result but we don’t get to see the meat of it, like. Is Lestat ever sincere with him? Do they ever have conversations where Lestat isn’t gaslighting him? I feel like they’ve put a ton of stock into Loustat as a central subject of the show but spent more time with them making out than they did showing us how they got to know each other and IDK MAN I JUST, I KINDA LIKE STUFF LIKE THAT LOL. I would’ve liked to see it to understand them better. I see that they’re into each other and I’m supposed to buy it, okay, but, I want to know why lol. The show is only interested in showing us moments where Lestat is misbehaving and Louis doesn’t like him.

Because then like, they skip over weeks of courting and the next time we get them together is the family dinner. And this too, like. The tantrum Lestat has in the middle?

I was REALLY distracted during this scene in particular in the fact that Lestat is 150 YEARS OLD LMFAO. I’m still waiting to figure out if he’s had a big sleep or not bc that might change the dynamic; if he’s been asleep for 100 years maybe he’s still a young man at heart. But this age change makes this entire scene SO fucking sinister to me haha. 

I’m not sure how to feel about his powers because the show has made up their own lore, but like, obviously in the books you gain these powers over time. Idk how it relates to this time freeze thing since it’s a show invention. But it’s creepy as fuck that he lets Louis watch. If it was something he had to get off his chest for a moment, he had the choice to freeze Louis as well. But he wanted Louis to see that. The way he immediately snaps back into being charming to Louis’s family is so fucked up hahaha. Sam Reid I think in the BTS had said something like how Lestat knows how to behave and how to misbehave and it’s perfect right here. He knows exactly what he’s doing, even in a moment where he needs to have an angry outburst.

SO NOW WE’RE UP TO THE SEXYPART WHICH IS VERY INTERSTING TO ME. It again opens with their walk to Lestat’s with Lestat reminding him of his own shame, leading into Lestat asking for a nightcap and Louis telling him he’s already too drunk. And it’s like DOES IT MEAN SOMETHIGN that he says no AS he’s walking towards Lestat? 

There’s something that feels deliberate about the way the shot is framed, seeing both of them and the way Lestat is stepping backwards to lure him, and Louis is going right to him. (Recall the end of the episode leading to the church how Lestat is saying Come to me over and over.) Louis is already drunk when he agrees to come up and Lestat even pours him another drink inside. 

I’m also curious if this is the same way Louis continues unbuttoning his vest even as he’s saying to Lestat “how’d you do that?” They make a point to show the way his and Lestat’s movements are in sync with each other. It reminded me of when he meets Santiago except now it makes me wonder if it’s the other way around, if Lestat is the one controlling Louis here, suggesting these things to him even as he’s alarmed. 

Louis is SO vulnerable here, and the thing is that Lestat knows it. And I think there’s a few ways to read this scene, I don’t think it’s definitely noncon/dubcon but it came off that way to me on the second viewing. The way Louis’s body goes limp when they levitate in the air calls me back to being immobilized. Like maybe he’s just feeling the SWOON that hard but like, how are you letting a man drink your blood and heal your neck wound AND YOU’RE STILL NOT REALLY CONCERNED ABOUT IT????????????? 

Like Lestat must have made it so, right? I don’t understand how a clever businessman who can READ PEOPLE and who profits off of people’s addiction and sin and is in the business of selling bodies wouldn’t BE CONCERNED LOL. I don’t care how insecure he is! I just feel idk we’re pushing it here, unless we can accept that Lestat is mind controlling him, and in that case I need to watch this entire scene and wonder how much he’s being mind controlled. How many of Louis’s actions are of his own volition? If he initiates the kiss, did he really? It really calls everything about them into question.

(ALSO this is the point I wanna come back to about commenting on the movie like, I don't recall it being a thing that you like kiss & bite people and float in the books, this feels specifically like a fuck you to the film to be like OH OH WELL THIS TIME THEY'RE NAKED! lol like is this gonna happen all the time, I'm yelling LOL. )

So then he’s getting ready to leave and he’s thinking like, I can’t do this, I’m gonna put this out of my mind, this never happened, etc, and Lestat is right there listening to it. Lestat heard all those mean things you just said LOL!! Unbelieve.

We get a time jump here and we know that at least two weeks go by. We know Louis ghosted him. At some point Lestat kills Lily (Louis’s like, only friend aside from Paul? Who he can hang out with and feel comforted?) and it’s such a blatant way to isolate him. Now you can’t go to Lily, you have to come to me. And we get to see this quality time with Paul at the wedding, and WHAT HAPEPNS NEXT?

Paul knows that Lestat has the Mind Gift lol, of course no one is gonna believe him, but Louis is like lol oh shit. And they have a nice wedding, and a lovely sunrise together, and a nice convo, and Paul just ??? Very calmly walks off the roof?????

Since vampires don’t have death sleep when the sun is up, it means Lestat could be AWAKE! Like y’all I think he killed Paul lol. He’s pouting in his coffin and his mind is across town making this happen. Even if that’s extravagant I think we still can get enough like Hannibal/Miggs mindfuckery if it was a seed Lestat planted earlier. 

And it leads us now to Lestat approaching Louis at the funeral, blunder-flirting by asking about the casket, and showing us how angry it makes him to be ignored. Louis continues to the cemetery, is immobilized once again, and at this point it’s full on mindfuck warfare with Lestat trying to lure him.

I really do not like the character shift that Lestat is like a vengeful edgy atheist here but it makes sense how he tries to be with Louis, Louis cannot seek Lily for comfort, he seeks Paul (aka religious man that triggers Lestat), and when he cannot seek Paul either he goes to church. So now Lestat’s gotta destroy the church, too! Anything to lead Louis towards him!!!!!! 

Similarly to the way they gloss over the dating period, I am dsaghjklsdhgjKSDG so frustrated that we don’t get to hear what Lestat is saying to him to convince him at the end. I’m wondering if this is trying to hint towards the way Louis skimmed over any love or positivity in the novel and focused on how much he hated Lestat and what a douchebag Lestat was lol. Same could be happening here and I’m waiting to see how it unfolds in the future episodes. 

But like YIKES that Lestat murders priests and starts a fire to win Louis over and still acts like Louis has a choice here. He’s isolated Louis from his friend, his brother, his church. Arguably he still has Grace and his mom except that his mom is blaming him for Paul’s death. But Lestat narrows his world down to only have room for Lestat.

And just THE WAY HE SAYS “I LOVE YOU. YOU ARE LOVED.” Like. Lestat is a total solipsist, I think he has a hard time caring about other people’s feelings unless he’s using them in some way and observing them for his own benefit. “I love you” is an expression of his own feelings, and he means it, but having to remind Louis “You are loved” is so fucking manipulative at this exact moment. 🍿 

I’ve been like super worried about this show was going to handle Lestat’s tendency to abuse people around him and woobify the domesticity of Rue Royale Era because of the way they said it would be truer than the movie since they can draw on all the books to inform Lestat’s personality.  YKNOW LIKE ALL THE BOOKS WHERE LESTAT DOESNT ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE’S TERRIBLE AND WE’RE SUPPOSED TO JUST BE ON HIS SIDE etc etc and all the ways Anne fumbled the topics of domestic abuse. 

Like I WANTED Lestat to be clearly toxic and I’m really relieved we’re getting a version of him like this instead of framing him as a hero but at the same time it was like WOAH LMFAO THIS IS EVEN WORSE????? He’s so much worse here. It’s Lestat being an asshole but with the subtlety of a brick to the face. 

I definitely have some complaints about it and he comes off as a caricature at times even though Sam is doing a great job with what was written for him, but I guess I prefer this over it being like a wholesome romance hahahah. Like please, yes, make him the biggest asshole. :D

WELL ANYWAY

In my mind I was gonna just write a few bullet points about stuff I liked & didn’t like in the episode but I got really carried away so I’m gonna end here. 

I’ll park some other points here just for the record to have it out of the way before we watch more.

STUFF I REALLY LIKED

- the set designs & wardrobe (even though this time period isn’t my fav for wardrobe but they did really good with it) 

- really good performances from Jacob and Sam ! 

STUFF I REALLY DID NOT ENJOY

- the Daniel straightwash/closeting (I wrote a bit about it yesterday though)

STUFF I KINDA DIDN’T ENJOY BUT I’M LOOKING FOR CLUES IN THE FOLLOWING EPISODES TO ADD CONTEXT

- I don’t really love that they’re framing race, orientation, and disability as sources of shame, especially when it’s a show invention. I feel there might also be something in here about how Lestat thinks it's okay to murder poor people and sex workers but maybe we'll find out that they were ~evil all along~. To say you’re updating the text and then adding these kind of reductive themes is like, not awesome LOL but I wanna see where it goes to decide how it’s being handled. 

- I have a lot to say about how they handled the topic of Louis owning brothels & the way they talked about the sex workers. There’s so much to unpack here when it comes to the politics and economics of the time period and how like, almost all the SWers were Black except for the disabled one and someone in the bg. There’s just a lot here. I don’t think it’s necessarily bad on the screen within the story but there’s sort of a larger context about the way RJ has talked about the story and the characters and his occasional creepy sexist remarks that are giving me big red flags here about the intent behind it. 

- Changing the entire theme of vampirism from othering to power is just. … .okay lol. All the reviews were raving about how much this show FELT like Anne Rice and how it was so loyal to the themes and honestly I did not get that all from this episode? In a super broad strokes way I see the through-line of like loneliness/love and shame/isolation but from this episode alone it feels like a huge mess and I wanna see where else it goes.

- I’m really curious because a lot of the reviews said this episode was slow and I THOUGHT IT WAS RUSHED HAHA I was really confused about the pacing. But knowing that the reviewers saw 1-5 I’m just like omfg does that mean the others are like Ryan Murphy level drama?! LOL. They also kept commenting on how campy it was (in a good way) and in this episode I couldn’t tell if the campy moments were intentional. They came across as cringe & cheesy to me haha but I suppose if they show up often enough as a pattern we’ll be able to see if it was intentional. There were definitely a few parts where the music had me literally crying laughing (when they floated off the floor and when Paul died I don't think it was supposed to be funny, oops!)

(Speaking of cheesy stuff I laughed so much at all the super silly transitions and over the top music that felt straight out of Bram Stoker’s Dracula 1992 lolololol I was crying hahah) 

OKAY THAT’S IT FOR NOW HAHA hsdajdklgasd gosh I have a lot of thoughts. TALK SOON WHEN I WATCH EPISODE 2 I CANT BELIEVE WE GOT 2 MONTHS OF THIS.